Agenda Newsletter - April 27-29, 2007

Wildenstein & Co.; opens today; $10, $5 students; more info If we’re not mistaken, Monet is French for “blockbuster.” Appropriately enough, this survey—the biggest the city’s had in 30 years—brings together 60 works wangled from public and private collections, including one of the artist’s famed Gare Saint-Lazare paintings. Two of them have never even been displayed in public: the Italian landscape Villas at Bordighera and a portrait of Monet’s father, Claude Adolphe. Plus, the entrance fee’s half as much as the Met’s suggested donation.

Watch this new breed of sketch show Acceptable.tv Sure, the show sounds like cross-platform synergy run amok: Each episode features five “pilots” for mini-programs, and you vote online to determine which two will return next week. But the results are satisfyingly bizarre: In the animated “Mister Sprinkles,” a Cat in the Hat–style troublemaker stands trial for murder; “Lord of the Phils” concerns an island of savage Dr. Phils. It’s gleeful comic anarchy—and unlike on American Idol, the dregs do get skimmed off. VH1 10 p.m. Fridays More weekend picks

Have some actual fun at PEN fest A Believer Nighttime Event With 67 events and 162 big-deal writers, the PEN festival is so comprehensive—so Momentous—it’s ridiculous. Which is why we’ll be attending this slightly more frivolous event, sponsored by the McSweeney’s sister lit mag. The fabulous artist-filmmaker-author Miranda July, who’s got a story collection coming out, will auction objects from people’s pockets; John Hodgman—essayist, Daily Show regular, and “PC guy”—will hold “Writer Speed Date Sessions”; and Eric Bogosian will preview his next novel. Tishman Auditorium, the New School 6 p.m.Free More info » More weekend picks

Hear this Vegas legend Keely Smith She never swung as hard as Ella or crooned as insistently as Doris Day. But as wife to bandleader Louis Prima, the ultracool Keely Smith was still part of a landmark Vegas act in the fifties, and that career—which includes encounters with the Rat Pack—makes for a night of delicious storytelling. And don’t forget that she’s been polishing some of her renditions of classic songs (“Just a Gigolo,” anyone?) for half a century—and that this monthlong residency ends tomorrow. Cafè Carlyle Ends tomorrow10:45 p.m.More info » More weekend picks

Blow your mind in this installation Orly Genger Walking into Genger’s gallery-filling installation of more than 200,000 feet of woven-together nylon climbing rope—enough material, the press release tells us, to “surround the island of Manhattan twice”—is like stumbling on the lair of an alien creature. As you make your way through the small, darkened space, you can expect to see a human-spider hybrid (the artist-insect) lying in wait. The experience is as strange, chaotic, abstract, and encompassing as her process is obsessive. Larissa Goldstone Gallery ThroughMay 5More info » More weekend picks

Check out this madcap performance SLAM Show 9 Just remember, you’re not pandering to the kids if you enjoy an event, too. Elizabeth Streb, who won a MacArthur “genius” grant, choreographs for the Jackass-and-video-games age, and her high-impact, daredevil shows will quicken anyone’s pulse. This weekend she’ll have her performers (whom she calls “action mechanics”) leaping off high platforms, dodging concrete blocks, throwing themselves against walls—and distracting young ones, for a couple of brief hours, from Jackass and video games. S.L.A.M. Opens tonight7 p.m.$20; kids $10 More info » More weekend picks